Updated logo

[Rock_Rat]

For awhile now I've wanted to clean up our logo. When I shrank the original to fit the new PhpBB3 layout it created a lot of noise in the image. TeamOVCacher contacted me about a version of our image in vector graphics so that gave me an excuse to work on it. There are a couple changes, The whole thing is a little more "bubbly" looking, the bird and the text are a little more stylized, and in general the outline of the compass should appear to be better defined. Having the logo in a vector format will be good because it makes it easier to resize the image for different projects we may have. Take a look and let me know what you think.

[scoutingwv]

Good idea. I think it will reduce better than it will enlarge.

[Rock_Rat]

Good idea. I think it will reduce better than it will enlarge.

If you mean ascetically then you may be right but technically It's surprising just how well a vector image will enlarge. I've included both the original SVG and a PDF of the image if you wish to play around with the scale.

[scoutingwv]

No, I meant aesthetically.

Yep, vector art can be enlarged quite well, but is the amount of detail you have on the sample all you want in a larger version?

[Rock_Rat]

No, I meant aesthetically.

Yep, vector art can be enlarged quite well, but is the amount of detail you have on the sample all you want in a larger version?

I personally have an odd since of aesthetics, which is why I posted the image here for others opinions. If I had my way video would be 16bit graphics with 8 bit sound and pictures would all be B&W. It could be a zen thing I guess, or maybe I'm just as weird as I think I am. Any how, I thought losing some of the detail in the bird made for a more interesting image. I guess it felt more impressionistic or cartoony to me where as the other image felt more realistic. Do you think we should add more detail? Perhaps more definition to the bird and stronger outlines around the compass.

[Aquacache]

Looks good. I've always much preferred vector formats (20+ years of CAD work, ya know) ... raster formats just seem so limited to me. What software did you use for the graphic?

[Rock_Rat]

Looks good. I've always much preferred vector formats (20+ years of CAD work, ya know) ... raster formats just seem so limited to me. What software did you use for the graphic?

I used a piece of software called inkscape. It's an oss project with ports for Linux, Mac, and Windows. The only other vector based software I've used was flash in college so I can't really compare but it's free, it's stable, and it seems to work really well. I'd be interested to here your opinions on it.

[scoutingwv]

I agree with you Rock_Rat - I like Inkscape. It was a little tricky getting used to the menus and finding a good work flow at first, but it's got plenty of features. I also spent a lot of time (a lot of years ago) in a CAD environment and doing other vector-based graphics. Between Inkscape and Gimp, I think I've found a fairly decent - and free - graphics solution. Gimp even has a RAW plug-in that recognizes my Nikon files.

To answer your question above, I think what you have will look great as a replacement for the current. I only raised the question about a larger version because I didn't know if you had plans for one (t-shirt, mouse pad, mugs, cafe-press type stuff...). But looking at it a bit more, I think the one you have could work well for that, too. If you were to add any detail for a larger version, I would only suggest looking at adding it to the bird and leaving the rest as-is.